Facebook launches Facebook Connect for iPhone

Facebook on Saturday announced the new Facebook Connect for iPhone service at the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, Texas. Dave Morin, senior platform manager at Facebook, took the stage to explain the new iPhone integration, the recently released Facebook features for brands and celebrities, and the new homepage design that began rolling out last week.

Facebook Connect for iPhone is available now with several participating apps, and does for iPhone apps what Facebook Connect does for Web sites: users can link their apps with their Facebook profile to share their data with friends.

"For the first time, your iPhone apps can now have friends," said Morin. "I can pull out my iPhone and play it not only my other friends with iPhones, but I can also play with my mom--she can join in and play with us on her computer."

Morin invited several iPhone developers to show off their new functionality. Representatives from Playfish, Tapulous (of "Tap Tap Revenge" fame), and SGN showed off how Facebook Connect for iPhone will work with games.

For instance, you can share you scores in your Facebook feed, see which of your friends are online, and invite both iPhone- and non-iPhone-using Facebook friends to play with you.

The most exciting game looks to be "Agency Wars" from SGN, which went live on Saturday. It's a spy game that uses geolocation to let you leave clues and set traps in specific real-world locations. Recruit friends to your spy agency, or play against them and "assasinate them."

Other apps that are utilizing Facebook Connect include the popular Urbanspoon and Flixster Movies apps. Urbanspoon now lets users post restaurant pictures and reviews on their Facebook feeds, and Flixster does a similar thing for movies.

Look for Facebook Connect-enabled apps soon from Citysearch, CitizenSports, Loopt, MTV, EA Sports, and several other companies.

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